To prevent young children from entering particular areas such as a swimming pool area without supervision, safety enclosures are provided. In some cases, such as for swimming pools, fences are usually required by law. These safety enclosures generally include a self-latching assembly which is arranged to operate automatically on closing of the gate of the enclosure and prevents the gate from being reopened without manual release of the mechanism.
One form of such a self-latching device is a magnetic latching device, an example of which is described in WO92/03631.
The self-latching assembly may also be provided with a locking assembly to lock the self-latching assembly against manual releasing the device. Without the appropriate key to unlock the locking assembly, the latch cannot be released and the gate cannot be opened. This provides an additional level of safety to the enclosure.